This is Danielle Allen’s famous secret recipe REVEALED!!!

Ok…it’s not really a secret recipe, but I’m putting this up because some people wanted to get it.  So here it is!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3 cups of multigrain square cereal
• 2 and 1/4 cups unsalted whole cashews
• 2 cups oat or multigrain cereal
• 2 cups multigrain pretzel sticks

Instructions:

1. Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper in a small measuring cup.
2. Combine the cereal squares, cashews, oat cereal, and pretzels in a 3 and 1/2 to 5 quart slow cooker.  Drizzle with the oil mixture, tossing to coat well. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 3 hours, stirring twice during the cooking time.  Be sure to check the mixture after 2 hours, as slow cooker times can vary.
3. Remove the lid during the last half hour of cooking to allow the mix to dry.

TIPS:

• I used Kashi Heart to Heart honey toasted cereal and Cascadian Farm organic multi grain squares.  I tried chex which is cheaper, but I could tell the difference in taste.
• I burned a whole mix the first time because I didn’t follow #2 and MAKE SURE YOU CHECK MIXTURE AFTER 2 HOURS.  My slow cooker actually finished it probably around the 1.5 hour mark.
• Because I wanted to double the recipe, I followed all the direction ad cooked it in the oven at 250 degrees for 1 hour, tossing the mixture every 15 minutes.

Well…that’s that!  Enjoy =)

I’ve never been a fan of diets but this morning at breakfast, I started one for the first time in my life.

And at lunchtime, I quit.

It all began last week when I came across a book called the Flat Belly Diet while at my parents’ house in Michigan. Intrigued by the title, I began flipping through the pages which in short, promised that with food like avocados, nuts, and dark chocolate, I could eat my way to a bikini worthy belly.

Now, I’m not exactly in the market for a muumuu yet, but it appears that my little cooking extravaganzas throughout the winter have gotten the best of me. What once was firm is beginning to resemble flab and stealing this book from my parents seemed like the perfect solution to my problem. Or at least it seemed easier than reinstating my gym membership.

The Flat Belly Diet recommends following a 4-day anti-bloat jumpstart menu before starting the actual diet. So this morning, my breakfast consisted of the following:

• 1 cup unsweetened cornflakes
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• ¼ cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce

It was no bacon and eggs but not horrible either. In fact, I was so inspired by my healthy breakfast I went straight to yoga afterward. One rule of the Flat Belly Diet is to eat every four hours so by the time I got home from yoga, it was almost time for lunch. I opened up my handy dandy pocket guide to see what was on the menu. It read:

• 4 ounces of turkey deli meat
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes
• You have got to be *&%# kidding me

That last line was actually what flew out of my mouth when I realized how many tomatoes were in 1 pint (there were 35 in this particular package). There is no way, no how that I am eating an entire pint of grape tomatoes in one setting. Not going to happen. I’m all for a normal, balanced diet and this is neither.

It looks like I’ll be doing this the old fashioned way at the YMCA.

This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on January 2, 2010

Make Sure You Have the Right Advertising Strategy for 2010

Like most other Americans, on the heels of holiday indulgence, I spend January exploring diet trends. When I find one that sounds promising, I head to the grocery store with a laundry list of weird, expensive food substitutes. Last year, I tried the Flat Belly Diet. It appealed to me mostly because it allowed rather large quantities of dark chocolate and peanut butter. And here’s a shocker—it didn’t work! But it did manage to give me acne.

For no discernable reason, I decided to share my dilemma with a chubby checker at Stater Bros. She recommended I purchase a Wii Fit since she’d owned one for a week and was certain it would work. So, I convinced my husband that the magic bullet for sustained weight management was to spend $300 on the at-home convenience of a Wii Fitness system. And I actually used it for several weeks before pulling a muscle doing virtual yoga.

Over the years, I’ve tried pretty much every diet and fitness regime. And while you won’t likely see my face on the cover of Prevention Magazine or Muscle and Fitness, I do manage to trim a few pounds every time I lead my family into nutritional purgatory. And I shudder to think of how large my frame would be were it not for my annual January dietary ritual.

My business partner and I take similar steps when it comes to trimming the fat from the advertising strategy for Mountain Marketing Group. At year end, we redo brochures, order giveaways and finish advertising contracts, with an eye to re-evaluating and re-prioritizing after the first of the year. I must admit that doing so is about as much fun, and as necessary, as dieting.

For Free

When times are tough, some entrepreneurs make the mistake of ceasing all advertising. While this may, initially, appear to improve the bottom line, it’s a lot like shooting yourself in the foot. Unless you plan to shutter your business, lean times call for more, not less, decisive advertising action. If your business is in trouble, make 2010 the year you turn things around. Here are a few suggestions:

• Place an ad on Craigslist. You might be surprised at how much interest a free advertisement on this website may generate.
• Include your company on every available free directory listing. Since funds are tight, you need to be diligent to stay on top of these sites, since new ones pop up daily.
• Consider affiliate advertising. Assuming you maintain a credible website and/or blog, (which are mandates for anyone in business in the 21^st Century), you might consider allowing affiliates to advertise on your site.

For example, CollegeRecruiter.com pays affiliates a $100 commission whenever a visitor to one of their sites clicks through and buys something— anything— within 365 days of that initial click-through.

On a Budget

When cash flow is tight, carefully evaluate your Return on Investment. It is possible to completely revamp your entire advertising strategy without spending a penny more than you already do. Just make sure you see a direct response from each of your efforts.

One of our clients was shocked when we pointed out that his $300 monthly Yellow Pages’ outlay yielded a meager 2 calls per month, which meant he was paying $150 per lead. By shifting his budget to pay per click ads, we multiplied his ROI tenfold.

The Sky’s the Limit

If you have cash on hand, take advantage of new media. Imagine the advantage that business owners had when they first realized the potential of advertising on television. The USA’s first television advertisement was broadcast on July 1, 1941. The watchmaker Bulova paid $4 for a 10-second spot, accompanied by the voice-over, “America runs on Bulova time.”

By today’s standards, the $4 price point is laughable. The same will likely one day be said about the current cost of digital advertising. So, instead of waiting for everything to shake down before you make your move, go for it. After all, even if your results are not typical, advertising online won’t likely lead to acne.

Until next week, I’ll be counting calories and Bowling for Business.

So I needed something to kind of kick start some better habits, I decided to try a “hard-core” (though not quite lol) cleanse. A friend of mine recommended the Flat Belly Diet 4 day cleanse as a great way to debloat, lower portion sizes and kick off a diet, or in my case what I’m refering to as just my new healthier lifestyle.  I started today, with a few tweaks to the plan from the book since I don’t want to drink “sassy water” I’m just drinking normal and since I don’t have the money to buy all of the specific groceries. But my portion sizes and items I am eating are the same. Breakfast was one serving of Special K Red Berries (I didn’t buy rice krispies) , a clementine, a large glass of water and one cup of coffee with reduced fat milk.  ( I also took a to go coffee…it was one of those mornings….)

Lunch was a lot more tasty that I thought it was going to be. The diet calls for 1 pint of grape tomatos, I can’t eat that many in one sitting so I had about 1/3 of a pint. 4 oz. turkey lunch meat ( I dipped mine in a little yellow mustard, delicious!), 1 string cheese and also 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce. I was supposed to have the applesauce with breakfast but I saved it for my lunch since I’m not too hungry in the mornings. I feel comfortably satisfied and also very proud of myself that I didn’t roam through the cupboards for more food. On this plan there is supposed to be a daily snack, a smoothie made with skim milk and a frozen fruit. I am blenderless at work so today my snack is going to be a hard boiled egg and another string cheese. Dinner will be grilled tilapia, 1/2 cup roasted red potatos with a little olive oil and 1 cup of steamed green beans.

Tomorrow is pay day so I will sign up for the gym either tomorrow or Friday, I’m very excited about it!

-This must work!

Back in September I discovered ”Clean Eating” and was convinced I had found the holy grail of dieting.  I swore, however, that I was done dieting for good and had finally found the way of eating and living that I had been searching for all my life.  I began following the “Clean Eating” principles, and then read up on the “Flat Belly Diet”, so I was eating mostly natural, preservative-free foods (in the right combinations), and adding in healthy fats;  however, I was eating waaaay too much of everything so I didn’t lose a pound (although I did survive the holidays without gaining any weight, and even made it through the Cookie Dough Incident of ‘09 fairly unscathed, so I guess that was a victory right there)!  

I am not currently “following” any one program;  I am using the best principles of all of the programs I have researched, but also counting points (Weight Watchers style) so that I can control my portions, at least until it becomes so routine that I automatically eat the right amounts.  What’s different this time is that even though I am technically “doing” WW because I am counting points, I am not surviving on 100-calorie packs and WW snacks like I used to, so I feel better! 

Don’t get me wrong—this is Girl Scout season and I WILL have my share of cookies, but I will count the points, eat well otherwise, and force myself to remember that a sleeve of Thin Mints is NOT a serving!!!  ;O)

What are some ideas that YOU have picked up from various books, plans, or programs that you think may be helpful in creating a healthy, well-rounded way of living?

There has always been tremendous interest in getting a flat stomach. A lot of people look at quick fixes or abdominal exercise machines. None of these quick fixes work. Find out what really works and lose the weight correctly.

Here is a list of the most popular articles on the Correct Weight Loss Blog on how to get a flat stomach.

20 Flat Stomach Rules

10 reasons That Could be Stopping You From Getting a Flat Stomach

The 4 Things You Absolutely Must Do to get a Flat Stomach

5 Things You Absolutely Must Not Do to get a Flat Stomach

Why dieting without exercise will not get you a flat stomach

1 Simple Exercise You Could Do to Get a Tighter Waist

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Core confidence – practice mindful eating, take your time to savour the food, taste the food, eat slowly and enjoy every  and be conscious of the emotions you feel while you eat.

Breakfast – Almond protein porridge

Lunch – 200g sun dried tomato mince sauce, ½ cup cook cabbage & 1 cup of mixed salad with 20g slice black olives

Snack –  1 small red apple and 1 Tbsp of organic smooth peanut butter

Dinner – 1 piece Chicken Kiev and 2 cups vegetables.

Anyone can attain a flat stomach if they know the rules that govern getting it. Yes there are flat stomach rules. Follow these rules and you will slowly but surely get the flat stomach that you may be yearning for.

Flat Stomach Rule 1 – Follow the Flat Stomach Rules

Doing something that is contrary to the flat stomach rules could result in your body holding to your belly fat tighter than ever. Belly fat is the last bastion of fat storage in the body and the body will fight tooth and nail before releasing it. If you ever try to go in battle against your body, you will surely lose. Work with your body rather than against it.

Flat Stomach Rule 2 – Be Patient

Everyone wants a flat stomach fast. Advertisements on how you could get a flat stomach quickly, are all over the internet. When it comes to weight loss or getting a flat stomach, slow is fast and fast is slow. This follows the law of the farm where everything has a gestation period. Just like pregnancy takes 9 months, attaining a flat stomach too will take time.

Flat Stomach Rule 3 – You Are Going to Have to Work For It

There is no magical pill or equipment that can give you flat abs. You are going to have to pay for it. Payment would be in the form of sweat. If there was a quick fix or magical diet, Oprah would have found it by now. So stop looking for shortcuts. These rules are the shortcuts.

Flat Stomach Rule 4 – Stop Dieting

Dieting is war against your body. Your body will win any dieting war. It will even go to the extent of causing you to regain all the weight that you have lost, once the diet is over. For this reason, any unhealthy or fad diets must be avoided. You should especially avoid the Sumo Wrestler Diet. You may unknowingly be on this.

Flat Stomach Rule 5 – Stop Doing Spot Training

A 100 crunches or even a thousand crunches are not going to help. You need to start exercising your big muscles so that it can help to remove the layers of fat on your body. For that reason, forget about exercise gimmicks that focus on the abs.

Flat Stomach Rule 6 – Start Doing 3 hours of Weight Resistance Exercises

Exercises that work the big muscles such as squats, lunges, push ups are excellent for removing the layers of body fat. Weight resistance training exercises are the most effective known for burning fat and boosting your metabolism.

Flat Stomach Rule 7 – Do Interval Training Instead of Steady State Cardio

Interval training is far superior than conventional cardio training. Try doing 2 sessions of this in a week. Be cautious of the strain on the body from interval training and start gradually. This takes priority over steady state cardio. So you should find time for this first.

Flat Stomach Rule 8 – Do Cardio Exercises Once Completing 3 hours of Weight Training a Week

If you are able to spare more than 3 hours of exercise time, you could do conventional cardio exercises such as jogging, cycling or swimming. This should only be done if you cannot handle the stress of interval training. Interval training is far superior to shed belly fat.

Flat Stomach Rule 9 – Remove or Absolutely Minimize Sugar and Simple Carbohydrates

Desserts, sweetened drinks, any sweet food or white flour should be avoided.

Flat Stomach Rule 10 – Avoid Sweetened and Calorie Filled Drinks

Sweetened drinks pack lost of calories. Avoid drink that have lots of milk in it such as lattes. These too have lots of calories even though being low-fat. The calories come from the simple carbohydrates in the milk.

Flat Stomach Rule 11 – Avoid or Reduce Milk to a Minimum

Lactose in milk spikes insulin. It would be wise to stay away from milk until you have achieved your flat stomach goal. You should be able to get enough protein from your meals. If you need more protein, it could be obtained from protein shakes.

Flat Stomach Rule 12 – Understand Food Combination That You Should Avoid

Fat, sugar and alcohol taken in combination is detrimental to your flat stomach goals. Here is a detailed explanation of meal combination to avoid.

Flat Stomach Rule 13 – Breakfast is Compulsory

In an earlier article, research has shown that people who skip breakfast store more abdominal fat. Skipping breakfast is a cardinal sin and should be avoided at all cost if you really want a flat stomach.

Flat Stomach Rule 14 – Have 3 Small Main Meals and 2 Snacks

You should be eating every 3 or 4 hours to rev up your metabolism. Do not take this opportunity to overeat. Your main meals should be small servings. Eat nuts or fruits for snacks.

Flat Stomach Rule 15 – Have 6 to 8 Hours Sleep at Night

Lack of sleep results in elevated levels of cortisol which promotes abdominal fat storage. A lot of people exercise and eat healthy but compromise on sleep. They have an extremely tough time losing belly fat.

Flat Stomach Rule 16 – Strengthen Your TVA Muscles

The TVA muscles hold the contents of your stomach firmly in. An earlier article detailed  how to strengthen your TVA muscles with a very simple exercise.

Flat Stomach Rule 17 – Avoid Alcohol

Alcohol halts fat burning and increases appetite. Abstain from alcohol until your flat stomach goals are achieved. Read the earlier article for detailed information on alcohol’s effect on weight loss.

Flat Stomach Rule 18 – Be Aware of the Weekend Binge

An earlier article showed how a lot of people are disciplined on the weekdays but blow their diet on the weekends. Over consumption of food and drink causes a setback to a lot of people.

Flat Stomach Rule 19 – The Flat Belly Diet Should Consist of Food With Low Calorie Density

Food with high calorie density have lots of calories in a small portion of food. These mainly include food with a combination of fat and sugar. One could easily overeat without realizing the overload of calories.

Flat Stomach Rule 20 – You Do Not Need to Finish Everything On Your Plate

Eat until you are 80% full. Do not eat until the food on the table or the food on the plate finishes.

Core Confidence - List four things that will help you succeed on the Flat Belly Diet & write what you are going to do to ensure that you get each of the four things you need.

4 Things that will help me succeed:

1. follow the rules of the flat belly diet
2. recording everyday what I eat
3. Ensure each meal has protein and MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid = the healthy fats)
4. Follow the walking plan and weights plan for 30 days

To ensure I will follow these 4 measures to reach success, I am going to log my food dairy daily, log my exercise daily to keep track that I am eating protein and MUFA rich foods and exercising my butt off.

Breakfast -  Oats with LSA, Vanilla Protein & Almond Spread (1/4 cup oats, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 Tbsp LSA, 1 serve protein & 1 Tbsp Almond spread with a sprinkle of cinamon) Yummo

Hunger factor – I was satisfied. Not full but not hungry. However, it’s 11am now and my tummy is getting hunger pangs. Tomorrow I will use 1/2 a cup of oats as it fills me up right up till lunch time.

Lunch -  4 Turkey meatballs, with 2 cups of mixed salad with 1/2 avocado

Snach - 200g No Fat Greek Yoghurt, 50g mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and cherries)

Dinner -  1 serve of home made cottage pie

I will come back later to update hunger factors.